Our membership always likes to learn from our history of automobiles and communities that we live in. This club event on June 24 helped us learn about Samuel West Peel, one of the first prominent families settling in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1875. Samuel and his wife Rose raised seven children on 180 acres with apple orchards, farmland, lush gardens, and the mansion. Helen Walton convinced her husband Sam to save this home and grounds from imminent demolition by investing and restoring the mansion and grounds beginning in 1991, allowing us to marvel at this beautiful time capsule from that period. Many members of the Peel family went on to play a key role across Northwest Arkansas in apples, banking and government leadership. We all learned so much from this free 45-minute guided tour of the Peel House Mansion and Botanical Gardens. This was a great opportunity to gain a perspective and visual of what customs and family life were really like back then.
We closed the afternoon at Lin’s Garden Chinese Restaurant, a local favorite with an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch in Bentonville. This is a restaurant to keep on your short list of restaurants for the food quality, service, and value.
Thanks go to our hosts, Barbara Lowinger and Dennis Anderson.
